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Bill Fernandez

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

https://www.kauaibillfernandez.com/

Genre

Historical Fiction, Memoir

Influences

Bill's native Hawaiian heritage gives authenticity to the novels, all ...more

Member Since

March 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/billfks49

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Born and raised on the tiny Pacific island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands, Bill enjoyed a childhood unlike most because the ocean was steps away and summer temperatures all year round. His family built a large movie theater on the island (Roxy) which introduced Bill to a much larger world.
Then the soldiers arrived: 40,000 GIs four months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Life changed: gas masks, machine gun nests, curfews enforced by armed soldiers, rationing of gas and food. Bill adapted: he built a shoe shine kit, ran errands for candy and cigarettes for the GIs, and worried about a Japanese invasion. Family worried about internment of Japanese.
After graduation from Kamehameha Schools for Hawaiian children, Bill entered Stanford Univers Born and raised on the tiny Pacific island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands, Bill enjoyed a childhood unlike most because the ocean was steps away and summer temperatures all year round. His family built a large movie theater on the island (Roxy) which introduced Bill to a much larger world.
Then the soldiers arrived: 40,000 GIs four months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Life changed: gas masks, machine gun nests, curfews enforced by armed soldiers, rationing of gas and food. Bill adapted: he built a shoe shine kit, ran errands for candy and cigarettes for the GIs, and worried about a Japanese invasion. Family worried about internment of Japanese.
After graduation from Kamehameha Schools for Hawaiian children, Bill entered Stanford University, and graduated with BA and law degrees (JD). Law practice in Sunnyvale, CA, (future home of Silicon Valley) led to a judicial appointment to the Santa Clara County, CA, bench where he served more than twenty years.
Retired, Bill and his wife Judie traveled and then settled into a family home in Kapaa where Bill began his writing career. First, a memoir about the family movie theater, then two memoirs about his childhood adventures, and three novel series (Grant Kingsley, John Tana, and Kalani). The novels feature native Hawaiian men, heroes trying to understand and adapt to the foreign invasion of Western Capitalism and religion. The novels are well researched and historically accurate.
The last two historical novels begin in the late 1700s, during pre-Western contact when Kamehameha the Great fought battles to unite the islands under one ruler. The hero is Kalani, a young Hawaiian man sent by his mother to become a warrior for Kamehameha to protect her and his sisters from slavery. He has much to learn. First: he has no genealogy to protect him from higher ranks, is threatened but survives, learns about women, slavery, treachery, guns and cannon, as well as human sacrifice. The second novel in this series, Conquest, begins when Kalani's wife is burned to death during a vicious nighttime attack on his farmland. He seeks revenge on the masked killers. Kalani spies for Kamehameha, helps Captain George Vancouver, disguises himself as a priest of Lono, and fights in dramatic battles set on Oahu.
All of the novels are well researched and reviewed by Kirkus. ...more

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Combine Editions
Bill Fernandez’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 105 ratings · 13 reviews · 17 distinct works • Similar authors

	Kaua'i Kids in Peace and WW Two 3.83 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rainbows Over Kapaa by Bill Fernandez (Goodreads Author), Judith Fernandez (Illustrator), Photographer : Judith Fernandez (Illustrator) 3.81 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2009 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hawai'i in War and Peace: A Memoir 4.07 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cult of Ku: A Hawaiian Murder Mystery 3.79 avg rating — 14 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	John Tana: An Adventure Novel of Old Hawaii by Bill Fernandez (Goodreads Author), Judith Fernandez (Contributor) 4.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gods, Ghosts, and Kahuna on Kauai: A John Tana Novel (John Tana An Adventure Novel of Old Hawaii Book 2) by Bill Fernandez (Goodreads Author), Judith Fernandez (Illustrator) 4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Splintered Paddle: a Novel of Kamehameha the Great by Bill Fernandez (Goodreads Author), Judith Fernandez (Illustrator) 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crime & Punishment in Hawaii: A Grant Kingsley Novel 4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hawaiian Rebellions: Book Three of the John Tana Trilogy (John Tana, An Adventure Novel of Old Hawaii 3) by Bill Fernandez (Goodreads Author), Judith Fernandez (Illustrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Conquest: a Historical Novel of Kamehameha the Great by Bill Fernandez (Goodreads Author), Judith Fernandez (Illustrator) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars